Status Quo Ante
by cerasi1
Summary: Just days after Sirius was taken to Azkaban, Remus looks down that muggle street and remembers the things that were.


Status quo ante - The state of things as it was before

Staring down at that gods-awful hole in the street, that painful reminder of what had recently transpired here, Remus was forced to remember some things that perhaps he would rather not. In the madness of it all Remus had all but forgotten that conversation. When he heard about James and Lily, and about poor little Harry, and now about Peter, Remus had all but forgotten. Some things, he thought, are best left forgotten.

"_What would you do if something happened to one of us?" Sirius asked, a thoughtful glint in his eye that made Remus know he was serious._

_They were sitting together on the large comfy couch, a rare evening of rest amongst all the work they were doing lately, amongst all the raids and missions and general hard-tasking, they were finally given a reprieve in the form of an evening doing nothing but relax in front of a warm friendly fire. Naturally they had decided to spend it together._

"_Who?" Remus asked, looking up from his paper._

"_One of us, the Marauders." Sirius clarified._

_Remus looked slowly between the carpet and the fire, then back at Sirius._

"_I don't know." He said honestly. "Sirius, I have no idea." He paused and stared into the blaze for a moment. "What would you do?"_

_Sirius frowned. "I think I… I would do what was needed, or expected of me."_

_Remus almost laughed, despite the gravity of the conversation. "What was expected of you? How very noble of you Sirius, but I don't think you would."_

"_I don't mean what anyone else expected of me, but I mean what you or James or Peter expected of me." Sirius said sagely. "Like if it was James, I'd have to seek revenge, because I know he would want revenge. And if it was Peter… who knows. I guess I'll ask him."_

"_And me?" Remus asked. Sirius sighed and reached out a hand to play with a loose strand of Remus' hair._

"_What would you want me to do?" He asked quietly._

_Remus was at a loss for a short time. He frowned and searched Sirius' face for any sort of helpful hint at what he should say._

"_I think I would have to avenge you." Sirius said at last before Remus formulated an answer. "But, I don't know, if you died I… it would be the end of me. Like if James died, but different. He's like a brother, but you're different. If you died, Remus, I don't know if I could go on." He drew a careful line down Remus' jaw with his finger. "Would you want me to go on?"_

"_I-" Remus couldn't answer. Of course he would want Sirius to go on, to keep living and all that, but if the situation were reversed, could he do the same? "It's expected of us." He said with a smile. "I don't know what I would want you to do, and I certainly don't know what I would do." He smiled and reached out a hand to take Sirius'._

"_We'll burn that bridge when we get to it." Sirius smiled._

Indeed, thought Remus, kicking the snow off his boot. He looked once more at the gaping hole in the street. The muggles hadn't fixed it yet, and the Wizarding community were occupied enough as it was. It would stay like this for a while, he guessed.

"Terrible, innit." A young man said with a shake of his head. "At least they caught the mad bastard. I hear they put him up in a top security prison. I say he deserves more than that. Much more. Killing all those innocent people…" He shook his head and turned to move off. "Still, I suppose life has to go on for the rest of us. He didn't take us down with him."

Remus sighed as the youth wandered off. Life goes on, that much is true, but he did, young man. He did take some of us with him. Remus flicked up his collar and pulled his coat tight around his middle, walking quickly off up the street, head down so no one would see his tears.

"_We'll burn that bridge when we get to it." Sirius smiled. "But I want you to remember one thing, just one, if something should happen to me."_

"_And what is it?" Remus asked, happily receiving a light kiss as Sirius leaned over to hug him tight._

"_I love you."_


End file.
